Have you ever been puzzled about the education of your children? I'll tell you right now that I was puzzled by things when our oldest attended kindergarten, and even as I educate them myself, I'm even more puzzled! However, as I make it through Miss Mason's volumes at the pace of a snail, read thoughts on CM websites, some of my questions are gradually being answered.
Here's another question, what is the big picture? What is the end goal of educating our own children? For us, the goal is that our children will be more than well-rounded. We have a desire for our children to have a love of knowledge, more than we ever thought possible! We'd like our children to go to college, but that is their choice. We want our children to have good habits, well in place. There are many more pictures in the grand portrait we've envisioned, but I'll leave it at this for now. When I think about the grand portrait for our children, sometimes it's hard to break it all down into the little pieces that are to be painting that portrait right now. But we take it day by day and pray that God will work in the hearts of these wonderful children and that they will grow into sharp arrows for His kingdom.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Muddy Schedules
We've been back in session for two and a half weeks now. I love school and I love teaching!!! If you asked me that 15 years ago, I would have said NO WAY! But now, oh, it's amazing!
Yes, I know, the title to this one is "Muddy Schedules" but that does not imply at all how the new year is starting off. I have to admit, I was very nervous about adding another student to the mix, not to mention stacking on a whole new group of books to read. This year has been difficult, but today, I believe we had our first real break through. People can't stress enough the importance of schedules! Last night, I sat and made up a mock schedule to try out today and expected to have to make some major changes. I've been stunned! It actually worked! Today flowed so smoothly! We'll have to see how the rest of the week goes and maybe next week too. This is something that brings excitement to my homeschooling heart. I've actually got some semblance of control!
At one point today, it did seem as though, the schedule was all out the door. We headed out doors to spend some time in "recess." Immediately little Peter walked right over to the puddle (that was a complete surprise for the lack of rain we've had). He splashed and I thought it was cute. Big sister followed and had just as much fun. Then Benjamin came in and joined in the fun. My biggest concern, at the time was cuts from the rocks, or burns from the extremely hot concrete. I didn't think that Flopsy would pick up a handful of mud and throw it at her big brother! After he realized that it was harmless, he got her back and it was all over, we ended up with three muddy children taking a bath - and we were 30 minutes behind schedule! I guess that I've been doing this long enough, that my immediate thought was, "I'm so glad they had fun in the mud!" The schedule was great to have and we felt great about how the day was going, we still had half the day to go, but these kids have got it together! Not only did we catch up and have a nice dinner, but they finished working on their handicrafts early!
These are days that make homeschooling totally worth it. I'm looking forward to more prospects of rain coming this week and all the new adventures coming up that God has in-store for us! We are already nearly a quarter of the way through our first term this year. Hopefully, we can stay on track for the rest of the semester.
There is definitely more coming up, we went to the local homeschool convention over the weekend. What we learned was so fabulous. I can't wait to share!
Blessings to you all!
~S
Yes, I know, the title to this one is "Muddy Schedules" but that does not imply at all how the new year is starting off. I have to admit, I was very nervous about adding another student to the mix, not to mention stacking on a whole new group of books to read. This year has been difficult, but today, I believe we had our first real break through. People can't stress enough the importance of schedules! Last night, I sat and made up a mock schedule to try out today and expected to have to make some major changes. I've been stunned! It actually worked! Today flowed so smoothly! We'll have to see how the rest of the week goes and maybe next week too. This is something that brings excitement to my homeschooling heart. I've actually got some semblance of control!
At one point today, it did seem as though, the schedule was all out the door. We headed out doors to spend some time in "recess." Immediately little Peter walked right over to the puddle (that was a complete surprise for the lack of rain we've had). He splashed and I thought it was cute. Big sister followed and had just as much fun. Then Benjamin came in and joined in the fun. My biggest concern, at the time was cuts from the rocks, or burns from the extremely hot concrete. I didn't think that Flopsy would pick up a handful of mud and throw it at her big brother! After he realized that it was harmless, he got her back and it was all over, we ended up with three muddy children taking a bath - and we were 30 minutes behind schedule! I guess that I've been doing this long enough, that my immediate thought was, "I'm so glad they had fun in the mud!" The schedule was great to have and we felt great about how the day was going, we still had half the day to go, but these kids have got it together! Not only did we catch up and have a nice dinner, but they finished working on their handicrafts early!
These are days that make homeschooling totally worth it. I'm looking forward to more prospects of rain coming this week and all the new adventures coming up that God has in-store for us! We are already nearly a quarter of the way through our first term this year. Hopefully, we can stay on track for the rest of the semester.
There is definitely more coming up, we went to the local homeschool convention over the weekend. What we learned was so fabulous. I can't wait to share!
Blessings to you all!
~S
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